Chapter Text
Blood spraying.
Debris flying.
Bodies dropping.
Lights flashing.
Seungmin ran faster than he had ever run in his entire life. He dodged spells hurled by his peers and leapt behind crumbling walls to avoid the rampaging werewolves, his heart pounding so hard it threatened to burst from his chest.
He raced past Death Eaters hurling Unforgivable Curses at children, and classmates cowering behind suits of armour, clutching bloody gashes in their arms. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a boy in scarlet Quidditch robes throwing himself in front of a defenceless girl. A flash of green split the darkness, and the boy crumpled to the floor, lifeless, his silver Captain's badge glinting in the moonlight.
A heart-wrenching wail cut through the din of battle, and Seungmin risked a glance at the caster of the lethal spell. He recognised him from the halls - the ex-Hufflepuff prefect, a boy who had always seemed to carry light wherever he went, whose effortless warmth and beauty drew everyone in. Now, however, the guilt etched across his face and the devastation in his eyes inspired nothing but fear and heartbreak.
The boy stared at the body before him for a single, shuddering moment. Then, with trembling hands, he turned his wand on himself. Before anyone could reach him, a blinding flash of green illuminated the battlefield.
When the light faded, he lay motionless beside his victim.
Seungmin tore his gaze from the horrific scene, ducking just in time as a crimson bolt tore through the air where his head had been. He didn't look back. Instead, he sprinted across the rubble-strewn courtyard, his lungs burning with every desperate step.
As he reached the towering wooden doors that separated him from whatever further horrors lurked within the castle, an ear-splitting howl shattered the night.
Seungmin threw his weight against one of the heavy doors, a dull ache shooting through his injured shoulder as it lurched open. He slipped inside and spun around, desperately shoving it closed.
Through the narrowing gap, he caught sight of a fellow Slytherin firing curses at anyone who crossed his path. Then a vast shadow fell over the boy.
He looked up.
A werewolf descended upon him.
With one final heave, Seungmin slammed the door shut and sagged against it, his eyes screwed tightly closed. Muffled by the thick oak, the boy's terrified screams still reached him.
Seungmin didn't have the luxury of stopping. He couldn't stay there and wait for death to find him - he had to get to them.
He had to apologise.
He had to tell them how sorry he was for being the reason any of this had happened.
He had to help them-
The wall opposite him exploded.
Stone, dust, and splintered wood erupted into the corridor, the force of the blast sending Seungmin stumbling backwards as grit stung his eyes. Through the settling cloud of debris, he spotted a Death Eater sprawled amongst the rubble, his mask hanging half off his face.
Two boys in tattered clothes stumbled through the breach, each leaning heavily on the other for support.
Seungmin hadn't seen either of them in over a year, yet beneath the blood, grime, and fresh wounds of battle, they looked exactly as he remembered. Just as brave. Just as beautiful. Just as utterly bewildered to find him standing there, staring at them.
"Seungmin...?" Han Jisung breathed, his eyes widening in disbelief. "You-"
Before he could finish, Lee Minho shoved the younger man behind him.
"How are you here?" he demanded, his wand already trained on the Slytherin. "The last time we saw you, you were standing at that psychopath's side like the good little dog you are."
The words struck harder than any curse.
Beneath the crushing guilt, beneath the desperation that had driven him across the battlefield, something ugly stirred. Anger, resentment, feelings he'd spent months forcing into the darkest corners of his mind clawed their way back to the surface.
How dare he.
How dare Minho look at him with such contempt.
How dare he call Seungmin a dog when he had no idea what it had cost him to keep Jisung and he alive.
How dare he stand there, so utterly self-righteous when-
The Death Eater lying in the rubble lifted his wand.
Seungmin froze.
No.
He didn't freeze, everything else did.
His thoughts vanished. His fear vanished. There was only movement.
He hurled himself in front of Minho and Jisung just as the Death Eater screamed his curse.
"Avada Kedavra!"